Cristiano Ronaldo or Lionel Messi? When Thomas Muller made his pick with surprise reasoning

Thomas Muller gave an interesting reason for choosing Cristiano Ronaldo ahead of Lionel Messi in the GOAT debate in 2022. The German forward faced the two superstars of football multiple times for club and country in his career.

Muller locked horns with CR7 on 10 occasions in his career, winning five and losing four games. Interestingly, the Bayern Munich forward won all three games against the five-time Ballon d'Or winner in international football.

Meanwhile, Muller also faced Lionel Messi 10 times in his career, winning seven and losing three. The 35-year-old was part of the Germany team that famously won the 2014 FIFA World Cup final against Messi's Argentina.

When asked to choose between La Pulga and Cristiano Ronaldo by ESPN in 2022, Muller opted for the latter simply because of his poor record against him.

“Messi or Ronaldo? I’ll go for Ronaldo. Against Messi I have a good statistic, against Ronaldo not that good,” said Muller.

Interestingly, the German forward's most recent meeting against Lionel Messi was in the 2022/23 Champions League Round of 16. Bayern Munich defeated Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) 1-0 at the Parc des Princes, before securing a 2-0 win at the Allianz Arena.

Meanwhile, Muller last faced Cristiano Ronaldo in the group stages of Euro 2020, when Germany defeated Portugal 4-2. Both teams, however, were knocked out of the tournament in the Round of 16.

Did Cristiano Ronaldo name Lionel Messi as the best player he had seen play?

Cristiano Ronaldo once named Lionel Messi as the greatest player he had seen play - but with a twist. Speaking to talkSPORT in 2022, Piers Morgan recalled a conversation with CR7, adding that the Portuguese was incredibly respectful of the Argentine.

"I had a very interesting conversation with Cristiano, we had dinner after I first interviewed him three years ago, it was a really great conversation and I really like him as a person," said Morgan.

He continued:

"He was incredibly respectful about Messi and I said to him, 'Who's the best player you've ever seen?' He said, 'Messi, but you're asking the wrong question, you're not asking me who is the best player…', because, of course, he has never seen himself play live. So, that made me laugh."

Ronaldo's contract at Al-Nassr expires next month, and he is yet to sign an extension. Messi's deal with Inter Miami, meanwhile, runs out at the end of this year.

About the author

Deepungsu is a veteran football journalist who has been covering daily transfer roundups and news for over six years at Sportskeeda. He has written 9000 articles for the website, and has garnered over 19.5 million reads.

Deepungsu holds a PG degree in Microbiology and an MBA degree in Total Quality Management. He has an extensive two-decade long writing experience, which includes a decade of sports blogging. His writing prowess has even led his work getting cited on the legendary Franz Beckenbauer's Wikipedia page.

Inspired by Diego Maradona, Deepungsu played as an attacking midfielder for his local club at subdivision level in his initial years and scored an important goal or two. However, his all-time favorite footballer is Lionel Messi, and evidently, he feels Argentina's glory in 2022 is his favorite FIFA World Cup moment for fulfilling his long-standing dream. He is also an ardent East Bengal fan.

Deepungsu has been a Manchester United supporter since the year 2000. Unsurprisingly, his favorite manager is Sir Alex Ferguson and the Scotsman helped him get through some of the toughest days of his life. Like the fiery Scot, Deepungsu also leaves no stone unturned when it comes to accuracy in articles and only relies on credible sources.

Despite believing in Kylian Mbappe and Erling Haaland to create an iconic rivalry, Deepungsu reckons no one can match the longevity of Messi and Ronaldo. He spends his leisure time writing about life on his blog, reading books, and playing the guitar.

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Edited by Sankalp Srivastava